On 2 January 1492, as Muhammed XI, the
last Muslim ruler of Granada, known as Abu Abdallah to his subjects,
took one final glance back at his beloved Alhambra Palace, he heaved a
terrible sigh at the thought of the lost glory of the European empire of
the Moors. The Moor's Last Sigh has since come to signify the end of
Muslim dreams of a European empire and the beginning of the military and
economic dominance of the Christian West.